Convenient Truths: More Ways to Enjoy An Inconvenient Truth
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 04.11.07
If watching the Oscar-winning film An Inconvenient Truth, or reading the book, left you wanting more, a couple of other ways to enjoy former Vice President Al Gore's message of urgency and hope are now available.
First, Groovy Green alerts us to a full transcript of the film published online. Writer Michael d'Estries notes
...this is the first time I’ve found a transcript of the film to enjoy. I say “enjoy” truthfully because reading this transcript after watching the film allows for a greater appreciation of the immense scope of knowledge presented over the course of 90 minutes. Didn’t quite follow a certain part of the film and would like to review it? Looking for an exact quote from the film to use against/in support of Gore? It’s all right here.
While adult readers will certainly enjoy having the transcript available, many parents have wondered about how to communicate the ideas from the film and book to their children. Yesterday, Viking Juvenile released An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming, an adapted version of Gore's original book aimed at young readers. According to a School Library Journal review, the new edition combines simpler language with "easy-to-grasp graphics and revealing before-and-after photos" to make the concepts of global climate change accessible to children in the 5th to 8th grades.
We're happy to see An Inconvenient Truth made even more available to a wider range of readers. We're also happy to see that it's message is clearly reaching so many people, as evidenced by the many submissions to Treehugger and Seventh Generation's Convenient Truths contest. We're just over a week away from the announcement of the video makers who will win the prize packages for first, second and third place. By the time Earth Day rolls around, guest judge Ed Begley, Jr., will have decided which of the videos remaining in competition deserve those prizes. Make sure to check Treehuggger on April 19th to find out those long-awaited results!
I hate al gore with every fiber of my body. he's the biggest hypocrit treehugger fake in the world!
Thank you Al Gore for standing up for all of us, and for future generations!
When history looks back on these times, you will be remembered with the likes of Clarence Darrow, H.L. Mencken, and William Lloyd Garrison.
There's no time like the present to get to work, assuring that future generations have the same chances we had.
If you don't have the book and don't feel like reading the movie, you can always check out the digital images on Flickr. In a massive nerd moment, I found (nearly) all the pictures/graphs in the book on the web and popped them on AIDG's flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidg/sets/72157594577688012/
Enjoy.
Though the movie is flawed, it isn't (according to realclimate.org, which is historically balanced) terribly flawed. If I were to share this with kids, I'd make sure that they knew that, for instance, one can't blame a single storm or even season on a global change. Yes, we are likely to see more dramatic weather systems and seasons. No, we can't pin Katrina, or any other single storm, on climate change. Gore diluted his impressive message with scare tactics.
But I'd certainly get this book for kids I know. I'd just use it as a critical thinking teaching tool, as well as a climate change and geography teaching tool.